ABOUKIR TO BAGDAD

Evening Star, Issue 18022, 17 July 1922, Page 4

ABOUKIR TO BAGDAD

' BLARE'S' EXPERIENCES.

MACHINE ANSWERS TESTS.

Press Association—By Telegraph—CopyrigH.

BAGDAD, July 14,

Major Blake states that the journey from Aboukir (Egypt) was full of incident. On landing at Ziza the shock-absorber of tho under-carriage gave way. The doma,ge was soon repaired, but Malins was suffering from heat, and it was necessary to send a wireless to Amman for a doctor. He thought that Malins would be belter for a day’s rest, so they deferred their start for Bagdad l and camped for the night in the desert, Ziza being a mere spot in tho desert, fifty miles oast of the Dead) Sea. There was not a regular aerodrome. On Wednesday morning the machines began their flight to Bagdad over 600 miles of waterless desert, marked only by a 1 track which a motor convoy made last year. .As the pilot of the Vickers-Vernon aeroplane had done the journey before, ha led tho way. The Vickers-Vernon also carried the stores, including fifteen gallons of drinking water and, emergency rations. “We had been flying one hour and a-half,” said Major Blake, “ when the VickersVernon lost its way owing to our distracting tho pilot’s attention by flying close to his machine to enable Malins* to obtain photographs. Tho Vickers-Vernon landed, and wo followed, but went up again and ! searched for the route. When we found it the Vickers-Vernon followed behind us.

“Tho heat was intense, and) we experienced terrific bumps. Tho heat was so great that the Vickers-Vernon could not rise above 50Cft. Two wireless aerials were carried away as the result of hitting rocks. Half an hour later the VickersVernon had to descend again, as repairs to tho oil pumps wore necessary; but tho engine was still running badly, so I decided to continue alone, flying until dusk. We landed at El Jid, where wo were well received by the Arabs, one of whom wore a rusty Gillette razor blade suspended from his right ear. After wc hail kissed tho sheiks and tho headman a sheep was killed in our honor, and we were forced to carry away the bleeding carcase in our aeroplane. “ At dawn ou Thursday we started ou the last lap of the Bagdad flight. On several occasions we had' to fly around in circles before we could pick up the track, and consequently we exhausted our petrol before reaching Ramndi. This was awkward, but by ’draining all the petrol tanks and pouring the spirit thus obtained into one gravity tank, we managed to raise just enough to enable us to get into the air again and crawl to Ramadi. Here a political officer gave us beer and food.

“A few minutes later a machine from Bagdad, which had been searching the desert for us, as wo were long overdue, appeared. Tims we reached Bagdad sorry spectafcles, unshaven and dirty, as -we had been unable to wash for three days ; but all felt quite fit after food and a bath. The aeroplane engine is behaving spleri-didlv.”-—A. and N.Z. Cable.